Safety wall socket assembly

Details Safety wall socket assembly Safety wall socket assembly

2000-04-03

2001-10-30

Luebke, Renee (Department: 2833)

Electricity: circuit makers and breakers

Combined with or actuated by connector coupling

Coupling-actuated switch

C439S188000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06310306

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to wall socket assemblies and, more particularly, is concerned with a safety wall socket assembly.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Wall socket assemblies are employed to make electrical connections between a source of electrical power and an electrical plug of an appliance. However, problems exist with conventional wall socket assemblies. An unintended object such as a screw driver tip or a paper clip, other than an electrical plug, inserted by a child into one of the cavities of the socket assembly can cause an electrical shock that may result in injury to the child. Also, electrical shock may occur during the insertion of a conventional electrical plug if the child is not holding the plug in an appropriate way.
Various socket assemblies have been developed in the prior art. Representative examples of prior art socket assemblies and the like are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,826,652 to Piplack, U.S. Pat. No. 3,346,709 to Appleton, U.S. Pat. No. 3,370,141 to Garamszegi, U.S. Pat. No. 3,701,074 to Oster, U.S. Pat. No. 3,846,598 to Mucsi, U.S. Pat. No. 3,914,565 to Niedermeyer, U.S. Pat. No. 3,942,856 to Mindheim, deceased et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,242,657 to Chaillot, U.S. Pat. No. 4,438,303 to Astier and U.S. Pat. No. 4,894,019 to Howard. While these and other prior art socket assemblies and the like appear to be satisfactory in use for the specific purposes for which they were designed, none of them seem to provide an optimum solution for the problems at hand.
Consequently, a need remains for a socket assembly which provides a more effective solution to the aforementioned problems in the prior art without introducing any new problems in place thereof.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides a safety wall socket assembly which is designed to satisfy the aforementioned need. The safety wall socket assembly of the present invention provides safety features which substantially prevent electrical shock upon the insertion of an unintended object into one of the cavities of the socket assembly. The safety wall socket assembly has spaced apart outer and inner elements disposed in each of the cavities of the socket assembly which must be actuated by a respective one of a pair of prongs of a conventional electrical plug by substantially full insertion thereof into the cavities for an electrical connection to be made with and an electrical circuit to be completed through the electrical plug.
Accordingly, the present invention is directed to a safety wall socket assembly which comprises: (a) a housing having a front end and a pair of cavities defined therein, each of the cavities being open at the front end of the housing and extending inwardly therefrom such that the cavities are adapted to have inserted therein of a pair of prongs of an electrical plug; (b) a pair of outer switches each disposed in one of the cavities of the housing and adjacent to the front end of the housing; (c) a pair of inner electrical contacts each disposed in one of the cavities of the housing at a location remote from the front end thereof and spaced inwardly from the one of the outer switches disposed in the one of the cavities; (d) means for providing an electrical current into the housing; (e) means for providing an electrical interconnection between the inner electrical contacts and the electrical current providing means; (f) means for movably mounting the outer switches to the housing and biasing the outer switches to a circuit break condition between the electrical current providing means and the electrical interconnection providing means such that the outer switches are movably displaced by engagement with the prongs of the plug from the circuit break condition to a circuit make condition between the electrical current providing means and the electrical interconnection providing means in response to partial insertion of the prongs of the plug into the cavities of the housing but without the prongs making an electrical connection with the outer switches; and (g) means for mounting the inner electrical contacts to the housing such that the inner contacts are electrically connected to the electrical interconnection providing means when the prongs of the plug are substantially fully inserted into the cavities of the housing into contact with the inner contacts and thereby the prongs of the plug are completely interconnected, via the inner contacts, the electrical interconnection providing means and the electrical current providing means, with the source of electrical current upon substantially complete insertion of the prongs into contact with the inner contacts.
More particularly, the means for mounting the inner electrical contacts to the housing biases the inner contacts to a circuit open condition with the electrical interconnection providing means and to move against the bias toward a circuit closed condition with the electrical interconnection providing means in response to substantially full insertion of the prongs of the plug into the cavities of the housing which also causes the inner contacts to move from the circuit open condition, wherein the inner contacts are spaced from the prongs, to the circuit closed condition, wherein the inner contacts are engaged with the prongs, so as to provide an electrical connection between the electrical interconnection providing means and the prongs via the inner contacts.
The electrical current providing means includes a pair of conductor wires each being connected at one end thereof to one of the outer switches and being connected at the other end thereof to a source of electrical power. The electrical interconnection providing means includes a pair of interconnection wires each having opposite ends and being electrically connectible at one end thereof to one of the electrical current providing means adjacent to one of the outer switches when the prongs of the plug are partially inserted into the cavities of the housing and being electrically connectible at the other end thereof to the one of the inner contacts when the prongs of the plug are substantially fully inserted into the cavities of the housing such that the prongs of the plug are completely electrically interconnected, via the inner contacts, electrical interconnection providing means and electrical current providing means, with the source of electrical current upon substantially complete insertion of the prongs into contact with the inner electrical contacts.
These and other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon a reading of the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the drawings wherein there is shown and described an illustrative embodiment of the invention.


REFERENCES:
patent: 2531625 (1950-11-01), Hubbell
patent: 2826652 (1958-03-01), Piplack
patent: 3346709 (1967-10-01), Appleton
patent: 3370141 (1968-02-01), Garamszegi
patent: 3701074 (1972-10-01), Oster
patent: 3846598 (1974-11-01), Mucsi
patent: 3914565 (1975-10-01), Niedermeyer
patent: 3942856 (1976-03-01), Mindheim et al.
patent: 4242657 (1980-12-01), Chaillot
patent: 4426558 (1984-01-01), Tanaka et al.
patent: 4438303 (1984-03-01), Astier
patent: 4758696 (1988-07-01), Grazer
patent: 4894019 (1990-01-01), Howard
patent: 5277602 (1994-01-01), Yi

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